JNJ

Dividend investors are paid for holding common stocks, which is one reason why a company which keeps paying a stable or rising dividend does not fall as much during bear market declines. The dividend returns are always positive, which provides a safety cushion even in the worst times possible.

To ensure a retirement that is free from financial concerns, there are certain things that must be done today. For many people this is not a desirable task. However, building a secure future by investing in quality dividend stocks is neither complicated nor overly burdensome.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), the world's largest health-products company, is scheduled to release its fourth quarter 2009 earnings before the opening bell on Tuesday, January 26, 2010. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report earnings of 97 cents per share on revenue of $15.70 billion.

Investors who are worried about inflation but want to protect their principal are often told to invest in Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, which are indexed for inflation. In other words, investors yield and principal are indexed to the CPI and adjusted as the CPI rises over time. This sounds like the perfect deal of a lifetime, except for two caveats.

Though many dividend stocks are now trading in excess of their calculated fair value, capital appreciation is not the primary reason for investing in dividend stocks. Dividend fundamentals are what drive my purchase decision, and if I could only look at one metric it would be...

The dividend aristocrats list includes companies which have increased dividends for over 25 years in a row. It is equally weighted and re-balanced once an year. Over the past 3,5 and 7 years the index of elite dividend stocks has managed to outperform the S&P 500 by 5%, 3.7% and 4.40% respectively.

With the expectations that the financial crisis appears to be over, investors have bid up stocks to the highest levels in over a year. There’s a lot of optimism in the news, including major banks repaying TARP money, unemployment stabilizing, and major economies rebounding.

JNJ the best of Pharma

the best of pharma - Johnson & Johnson valuation compared against, Celgene, Pfizer, Abbott Laboratories, Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb

As dividend growth investors we are looking for stocks can continue to raise their dividends indefinitely into the future. One metric that provides an indication of a dividend’s sustainability is its payout ratio.

When selecting a dividend growth stock there is really only one factor that is important – sustainability. As we evaluate many aspects of a company, what we are really trying to determine is if the company can continue to raise its dividend indefinitely into the future.

’Tis the season for stock predictions! Virtually every financial writer will pen an article selecting his or her top picks for the upcoming year. I enjoy reading them and the logic behind the picks and sometimes there is a gem to be found.

The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats is the most prestigious list of dividend stocks. It is designed to measure the performance of S&P 500 stocks that have followed a policy of consistently increasing dividends every year for at least 25 consecutive years.

As a dividend growth investor, my strategy is picking the right stocks that provide a decent balance between dividend yield and distribution growth. Thus I have maintained a rigid requirement for a 3% initial yield before investing in a dividend growth company’s securities.

There are certainly many ways to categorize the different styles of investing in dividend stocks, including yield, risk, growth, etc. Over the years, I have found that most dividend investing styles fall into one of the three major categories listed below: